Rights Group Wants Suicide Bombing Classified as Crime Against Humanity

January 08, 2008 05:15 PM

by
findingDulcinea Staff

The Simon Wiesenthal Center places a full-page ad in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune calling for the United Nations to class suicide attacks alongside genocide. It is not a new concept.

The advertisements read, “SUICIDE TERROR: What more will it take for the world to act?” Below that banner was a picture of Benazir Bhutto, assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007, by a gunman assisted by a suicide bomber.

The full-page ad requests that “the United Nations General Assembly hold a special session to deal exclusively with the scourge of suicide terror” and that “suicide bombings should be designated Crimes Against Humanity.”

The same suggestion was made in October 2002 by Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization. The organization’s argument was put forward in a report titled “Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians.”

The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth wrote, "The scale and systematic nature of these attacks sets them apart from other abuses committed in times of conflict. They clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity."

During an interview with Al-Jazeera on Jan. 4, 2008, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed that opinion.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international human rights organization named after a Holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to bringing war criminals to justice. The center describes its goals as follows: “confronting antisemitism, hate and terrorism … standing with Israel, defending the safety of Jews worldwide, and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.”

On Friday, Jan. 4, 2008, the Simon Wiesenthal Center took out an ad that read, “SUICIDE TERROR: What more will it take for the world to act?” The center urges people to sign an online petition to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Dr. Srgjan Kerim, requesting suicide bombings be classified as crimes against humanity.

The full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune requests “the United Nations General Assembly hold a special session to deal exclusively with the scourge of suicide terror” and that “suicide bombings should be designated Crimes against humanity.”

Footage retrieved by Britain’s Channel 4 News appears to show the former premier being shot, contradicting the official Pakistani government account of events. The medical report released to the press stated that Bhutto had been killed by the blast from a suicide bomber, after a gunman opened fire. Suspicions are that the government is attempting to cover up the extent of its security failing, according to the International Herald Tribune.

In October 2002, Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization, published a report titled "Erased in a Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians." The report states that suicide bombings should be considered crimes against humanity. The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said, "The scale and systematic nature of these attacks sets them apart from other abuses committed in times of conflict. They clearly fall under the category of crimes against humanity."

On Sept. 20, 2005, The Washington Post reported that Simon Wiesenthal died from a kidney problem at his home in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 96. After the Nuremberg Trials, Wiesenthal, a concentration camp survivor, worked to bring hundreds of former Nazis to justice. One of the more important war criminals Wiesenthal helped to put on trial was Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader who was instrumental in the planning of the Holocaust.

According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Web site, the organization is dedicated to the promotion of human rights issues, “confronting antisemitism, hate and terrorism … standing with Israel, defending the safety of Jews worldwide, and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.”

Section II Jurisdiction and General Principles, Article 6 (c) of the Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 1 Charter of the International Military Tribunal, states that Crimes against humanity are “namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.”